Calgarians who were trapped in their homes while residential streets were buried in snow last season may find some relief in budget proposals that would speed up plowing with millions in new spending. City staff has outlined three snow-clearing proposals that gradually increase the pace of plowing — clearing residential streets in four to six days — while boosting the price tag for taxpayers.

Calgary’s debt is slated to rise above $4 billion next year and then begin falling after 2016, as the city’s rapid growth stokes concerns that more public borrowing will be needed to keep infrastructure expanding apace. There’s room to grow debt further, even while the debt is rising toward $4.3 billion in 2016 to finance projects like new recreation centres and suburban water lines. Councillors are split — and not along simple liberal-conservative lines — on how to proceed when borrowing opportunities open.

The president of Alberta’s key engineering society has stepped down. Calgary’s Jim Gilliland resigned in the wake of his firm being found guilty of endangering safety at a downtown Calgary strata complex. His company, Williams Engineering Canada, potentially faces sanctions from the society.

In a city budget that offers few new bus drivers, police officers or city planners, there’s a significant boost to the staff that talk to Calgarians about what those other workers do. The city’s communications and engagement team will add 10 new full-time employees next year and another five in 2016, according to the draft budget. That’s a bigger hiring boost than Calgary Police Service will get over that period — and it’s a quantum leap proportionally, as the police currently employ about 2,500 people compared to the engagement section’s 25.

Calgary’s head of emergency management pledged to watch dollars more closely when future disaster strikes, after an audit showed potential waste concerns ranging from duplication to shoddy record-keeping during last summer’s flood. Tom Sampson, deputy fire chief for the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said his group “did what was required in difficult times,” and was unapologetic for possible spending problems during the city’s widely praised flood response.

City hall released a four-year budget Tuesday that shows many departments stretching thin to serve a growing public that has greater demands, while many councillors fear faster population growth will make balancing finances even harder. Some council conservatives who would normally rail against four straight 4.7-per-cent hikes to property tax now say that level is realistic, or perhaps even too low.

Calgary Transit riders will pay higher fares but notice little in service improvements over the next four years, something some councillors want to fix by boosting service levels in the city’s budget. Mayor Naheed Nenshi predicted this will be one of the biggest debates when council budget talks begin Nov. 25, although he wouldn’t say where he stands.

To the developers, 2 1/2 extra metres for their proposed building would mean a more attractive condo building, with high-ceilinged stores and eateries at its base. To neighbours, 2 1/2 extra metres for this building casts a taller shadow, potentially over all of Inglewood.

City hall releases its 2015-2018 budget on Tuesday. It’s a $22-billion doozy, a plan that stretches across four years and includes steady tax and rate hikes. But with the city’s population bursting at its seams, even that may not be big enough. 1) The boom: a budget-buster

With Calgary short by a half-dozen beverage container recycling centres — and controversy or planning hurdles wherever they’re proposed — the city will soon allow smaller quick-drop facilities as alternative to the bigger depots.

City hall wants to explore new horizons for future flood protection, including building rules that go beyond the flood hazard zone and more barriers higher than the typical flood protection level. In a newly released report that responds to Calgary’s expert panel paper on flood management, the city’s water resources division reveals plans to create next year a permanent team of city bureaucrats working to guard against a repeat of 2013’s disaster or a bigger flood.

Step aside, humble duplex: the next wave of infill housing is side-by-side-by-side units. In a bid to bring more density to established neighbourhoods without triggering massive resident backlash, Calgary council has approved new zoning rules that would allow row houses, as well as secondary suites in duplexes and row homes.

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